
BY THE 



CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, 



^MEMORIAL SERVICESO 



'■* 



^LATURE OF THE STATE OP NEW YORK, 
HELD AT THE CAPITOL AT ALBANY, 
April 20th, 1887, 

CHESTER A. ARTHUR, 

LATE PRESIDENT OF TEE UNITED STATES, 

AND 

April 27th, 1887, 

go m*mnj of 

REUBEN E. FENTON, 

LATE GOVERNOR OF TEE STATE OF NEW YORK. 






\ 



\ 






V 



ADDRESS 
H n by the 

Hon. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, 



Memorial Service by the Legislature of the 
| LEG 

State of New York, 



fRESIBENT ©HESTER A. ARTHUR, 



ASSEMBLY CHAMBER, AT ALBANY, 



Wednesday Evening, April 20, 1887. 



615J4, 



0# 



Gentlemen - of the Senate and Assembly of 
the State of New York : 

The twenty-first President of the United States 
was the third from the State of New York who had 
filled that high office. The administration and 
personal career of each of them form marked feat- 
ures of our national history. The conditions which 
prepared them for public duty were strikingly 
alike. Each was the sole architect of his own for- 
tunes and without the aid of- family or wealth. 
They were of the type of most of the men who have 
always controlled Parties and managed the Gov- 
ernment. Receiving in their youth the training 
and influence of christian homes, starting in life 
with no other endowment than health, character, 
courage and honorable ambition, they became lead- 
ers and rulers in their generations. The historian 
of the future will fill most of his pages, devoted to 
our first century, with the rise and fall of the slave 
power. In that story the parts of Martin Van Buren, 
Millard Fillmore and Chester A. Arthur will be of 
dramatic interest. The revolt of Van Buren in 
1848, was the first organized effort for freedom 
which had strength or votes. It assailed slavery 



in its strongest intrenchment, its hold upon the 
old Parties. 

In paving the way for their dissolution it opened 
the road for the union of men, hitherto arrayed 
against each other in hostile camps, upon this vital 
issue. With Van Buren as its leader the anti- slav- 
ery sentiment crystallized into a' powerful and ag- 
gressive organization. It broke up associations 
which had existed since the formation of the gov- 
ernment, alarmed and infuriated the adherents of 
slavery and prepared the way for the inevitable 
conflict. Millard Fillmore sought to stay the 
storm by compromise, but when he signed 
the Fugitive Slave Law the storm be- 
came a cyclone. The enforcement of the 
law brought the horrors of slavery to every 
door. It aroused the old fire which had charged 
with Cromwell on the field and expounded liberty 
through Mansfield on the bench. It united the 
North in a solemn determination to save the Coun- 
try and free the constitution from the dangers and 
disgrace of the system. It consolidated the South 
for a struggle to the death for its preservation. 
The years following of agitation and preparation* 
the appeal to arms, the civil war with its frightful 
sacrifices oi blood and treasure, the triumph of na- 
tionality and liberty, the reconstruction of the 



5 

States upon the the broadest and most generous 
principles, the citizenship of the freedman, the re- 
conciliation of the rebel, gave first to President 
Arthur the glorious opportunity and privilege of 
constructing a message which most significantly 
marked the happy end of a century of strife, by 
its 1'ailnre to allude to its causes, remedies or re- 
sults. Thus the first of the New York Presidents 
gave to anti-slavery a national party, the second by 
an effort to compromise with evil, brought on the 
battle which ended in its destruction, and the ad- 
ministration of the third saw the regenerated and 
reunited Republic rising upon its ruins. 

EARLY OBSTACLES OVERCOME. 

A small cottage, in a sparsely settled rural neigh- 
borhood of over half a century ago, a scant salary, 
the unselfish sacrifices which a large family and nar- 
row means necessitate, these were the physical sur- 
roundings which fitted Chester A. Arthur for his 
life's work. His father, a clergyman of vigorous 
intellect and ripe learning, his mother a pious, cul- 
tured woman, gave to him by precept and example 
the character and courage which both in resistance 
and action win and worthily occupy the most com- 
manding positions. All the marked successes 



6 

among our people have resulted from the spur of 
necessity. It has not been the poverty which 
dwarfs and discourages, but the opportunity and 
incentive for larger fields of usefulness and for the 
gratification of higher ambitions. The narrow lim- 
its of his little home became each day an expand- 
ing horizon inviting the boy to exploration and 
conquest. 

From his father he inherited that sturdy, Scotch- 
Irish blood, which for centuries has shown conspic- 
uous aptitude for government and leadership, and 
he was early taught that with liberal education, 
backed by the principles in which he was grounded, 
all gates could be unbarred and all avenues were 
open to him. With these motives work was pleas- 
ure, and difficulties were delights, in the fresh 
strength and confidence with which they were suc- 
cessively overcome. The accepted hardships of 
teaching the country school and boarding around, 
the distractions of earning a living while fighting 
for a degree, toughen and develop the elastic 
fibres of American character. When Arthur had 
won the maximum honors of his college and com- 
pleting his law studies was admitted to the bar, he 
was already a victor in the battle of life, and knew 
there were no dangers before him so great as those 
he had already overcome. The profession did not 



receive in him its frequent addition of a raw re- 
cruit whose steps have been so tenderly watched 
and taken for him, that he stands with difficulty 
and moves with timidity, but he had tested his 
powers and felt the confidence of a veteran. 

It was natural that with his origin and training 
General Arthur should at once have enrolled on 
the side of anti-slavery. It was fortunate for his 
future that the opportunity came early to partici- 
pate in a legal contest which was one of the 
decisive battles of that long struggle. Jonathan 
Lemmon, a Virginia slave-holder, undertook to 
remove to Texas by way of New York, carrying 
his slaves with him. The Court was asked to dis- 
charge them on the ground that no man could be 
deprived of his liberty in this State without the 
authority of the law. Virginia, through her 
Governor and Legislature, took up the 
cause of the slave-holder, and the Legislature 
of our State responded by employing counsel for 
the slaves. The most eminent men at the bar ap- 
peared on the one side or the other. The whole 
nation became interested in the conflict and mutter- 
ings of war were heard. Barriers were to be set to 
the encroachments of slavery or it was to be virtu- 
ally established everywhere. Political passions, 
commercial timidity, moral convictions, swayed and 



agitated the press and the Courts. Behind the 
States rights and vested property arguments of the 
lawyers for Virginia were the threats of a dissolu- 
tion of the union which had so often frightened 
Northern Constiuencies, and cowed Northern 
Statesmen. But the advocates of liberty with ttn- 
equaled boldness and ability pressed home the 
eternal principles of freedom embodied in the chart- 
ers of the Fatherland, and embeddedinour American 
Declarations and Constitutions, and our highest 
tribunal reiterated with phrase altered for us, Mans- 
fields' immortal judgment, " a slave cannot breathe 
the air of England." The same decision had been 
eloquently and vigorously rendered by William 
H. Seward, while Governor of our State years be- 
fore, but it received little attention or approval. 
Then, as often afterwards, this great statesman 
was nearly a generation in advance of his co- 
temporaries on the most important of questions. 
While this case settled the status of the 
slave brought within our jurisdiction, the 
rights of free colored people in our midst were 
violated daily. General Arthur championed the 
cause of a poor woman, who because of her race 
was refused a seat and ejected from a car, and in 
the success of the litigation, principles which after 
the civil war could only receive recognition and 



obedience by congressional enactment and consti- 
tutional amendment became parts of the fixed jur- 
isprudence of the State. He was never a brilliant 
advocate. He did not possess those rare qualities 
which win verdicts from unwilling juries and force 
decisions from hostile Courts, but he early took and 
held the important place of wise and safe counsel 
and adviser. Tact, sense, and quick appreciation 
of the right were qualities he possessed in such 
high degree, that they were the elements of his suc- 
cess, not only at the bar, but in the administration 
of public trusts. 

This so impressed Governor Morgan that he as- 
signed him to the most important position of 
recruiting and equipping New York's quota in the 
President's call for troops. The situation was of 
unparalleled novelty and danger. Generations of 
peace and prosperity had left the State with a holi- 
day military system, and ignorant of war. The 
problems of camps, depots, supplies, armaments, 
transportation, which require a liberal education to 
solve, were suddenly precipitated upon men unpre- 
pared and untrained. To collect, feed, uniform, 
arm and forward to the front tens of thousands of 
raw recruits, required great ability and unimpeach- 
able integrity. 

An army larger than the combined Continental 



10 

forces of the revolution was marching to Washing- 
ton from New York by regiments as completely 
equipped as they were hastily gathered. The press- 
ing needs of the government on the one hand and 
the greed of the contractor on the other were spurs 
and perils of the organizing officer. It is one of 
the proudest records of General Arthur's life that 
he surrendered his position to a successor of hostile 
political faith, to receive from him the highest 
compliments for his work and to return to his pro- 
fession a poorer man than when he assumed office. 

Activity in public affairs and strong political 
bias were inevitable in a man of such experience 
and characteristics. The fate of empire depended 
upon the issue of the tremendous questions which 
agitated the Country during these years. Party 
spirit ran high and parties were organized and offi- 
cered like contending armies. A great party must 
have leadership and discipline. Revolts become 
necessary at times against corrupt, incompetent or 
selfish leadership, but constitutional government 
cannot be successfully conducted by political guer- 
rillas and bushwackers. 

If the common judgment of mankind is the voice 
of God, the controlling sentiment of great parties 
are their best policies. But that sentiment 
must needs be voiced and receive expression in the 



11 

practical measures of government by commanding 
authority. There have been in our history few 
party leaders of the first class, who possessed those 
wonderful gifts which secure the confidence and 
sway the actions of vast masses of men. But 
there have been many who could combine and con- 
solidate the organization for work in the field when 
the canvass was critical. Among these General 
Arthur held a high rank, and the length and vigor 
of his rule, and the loyal devotion of his friends 
were lasting tributes to his merits. It was the nat- 
ural result that the President should require him 
to hold a representative position. The Collector- 
ship of the Port of New York was at that time the 
key to the political fortunes of the Administration. 
The Collector was in a sense a Cabinet officer, the 
dispenser of party patronage, and the business 
agent of the government at the commercial capitol 
of the nation. The peculiar difficulties of the place 
had permanently consigned to private life every 
man who ever held it. To make mistakes, to pro- 
voke calumny, to create enmities, were the peculiar 
opportunities of the office. That Arthur should 
have been unanimously confirmed for a second term 
and died an ex-President of the United States are 
the best evidences of his integrity, wisdom and 
tact. 



12 



CANDIDATE AND VICE-PKESIDENT. 

A long lease of power creates not only a desire 
for change but develops internal antagonisms. 
Both these dangers were very threatening in the 
campaign of 1880. The first was a present and in- 
creasing force, and success was impossible unless 
all discordant elements were harmonized. Garfield 
and Arthur as the representatives of the hostile 
factions were singularly fitted to accomplish this re- 
sult. Their selection contributed enormously to the 
triumph of their cause. Garfield the boy on the tow 
path, the University Alumnus, the learned profes- 
sor, the college president, the gallant soldier, the 
congressional leader, the United States Senator and 
brilliant orator, enthusiastic, generous and impul- 
sive, presented a most picturesque, captivating and 
dashing candidate, while Arthur's cool judgment, 
unequalled skill, commanding presence, and rare 
gifts for conciliating and converting revengeful par- 
tizans into loyal and eager followers, brought be- 
hind his chief a united and determined party. But 
no sooner was the victory won, than the internal 
strife was renewed with intensified bitterness. In 
demonstrating the evils and power of patronage, it 
gave effective impetus to the triumph of civil ser- 
vice reform. The struggle was transferred from 



13 

Washington to Albany and this Capitol became 
the field for the most envenomed and passionate 
contest of the century. The whole Republic was 
involved in the conflict. Upon it depended the 
control of the government. Vice-President Arthur 
whose loyalty to his friends was the central motive 
of his life, deemed it his duty to come here and 
take command of the forces on the one side, while 
a share in the conduct of the other devolved upon 
me. The murderous fury of the fray dissolved 
friendships of a lifetime, but I hail with profound 
gratification the fact that ours survived it. The 
bullet of Guiteau struck down President Garfield, 
and in the whirlwind of resentment and revenge, 
General Arthur, by the very necessity of his posi- 
tion, became the object of most causeless and cruel 
suspicion and assault. But in that hour the real 
greatness of his character became resplendent. 
The politician gave place to the Statesman, and the 
partizan to the President. As a spent ball having 
missed its mark is buried in the heart of a friend, 
so the dying passions of the civil war by one mad 
and isolated crime murdered Abraham Lincoln, the 
one man in the country who had the power and 
disposition to do at once, for those whom the assas- 
sin proposed to help and avenge, all that was after- 
wards accomplished through many years of proba- 



14 

tion, humiliation and suffering. But in the death of 
Garfield, the spoils system, which dominated par- 
ties, made and unmade statesmen, shaped the 
policy of the government and threatened the in- 
tegrity and perpetuity of our institutions, re- 
ceived a fatal blow. It aroused the Country to 
the perils both to the proper conduct of the busi- 
ness of the government and to the government it- 
self. 

A morbid sentiment that the civil service was a 
Pretorian G-uard to be recruited from the followers 
of the successful chief without regard to the fitness 
of the officer removed or the qualifications of the 
man who took his place, created the moral mon- 
trosity — Guiteau. The spoils system murdered 
Garfield and the murder of Garfield shattered the 
system. The months during which President Gar- 
field lay dying by the sea at Elberon, were phe- 
nomenal in the history of the world. The sufferer 
became a member of every household in the land, 
and in all countries, tongues and creeds, sympa- 
thetic prayers ascended to God for the recovery of 
the great ruler beyond the ocean who had sprung 
from the common people and illustrated the possi- 
bilities for the individual where all men are equal 
before the law. While he who was to succeed him 
if he died, though in no place and in no sense, 



15 

charged with sympathy with the assassination, yet 
was made to feel a national resentment and dis- 
trust which threatened his usefulness and even his 
life. Whether he spoke or was silent he was alike 
misrepresented and misunderstood. None but 
those most intimate with him can ever know the 
agony he suffered during- those frightful days, and 
how earnestly he prayed that in the returning 
health of his chief, he might be spared the fearful 
trial of his death. When the end came for General 
Garfield, Arthur entered the White House as he 
had taken the oath of office — alone. A weaker 
man would have succumbed, a narrower one have 
seized upon the patronage and endeavored to build 
up his power by strengthening his faction. But 
the lineage and training of Arthur stood in this 
solemn and critical hour, for patriotism and manli- 
ness. Friends, co-workers within the old lines, 
and associates under the old conditions looking for 
opportunities, for recognition or for revenge, re- 
tired chastened and enlightened from the presence 
of the President of the United States. 

The man had not changed. He was the same 
genial, companionable and loving gentleman, but 
in the performance of public duty he rose to the full 
measure and dignity of his great office. It was the 
process which has been witnessed before among 



16 

our statesmen, where under the pressure of sudden 
and grave responsibilities the evolution of character 
and capacity which would, under ordinary condi- 
tions, have taken a life time or perhaps never ma- 
tured, culminate in a moment. The most remark- 
able example in our history was Abraham Lincoln, 
and in a lesser degree Edwin M. Stanton and Sal- 
mon P. Chase. The cold and hesitating constitu- 
ency which expected the President to use for the 
personal and selfish ends and ambitions of himself 
and friends the power so suddenly and unexpect- 
edly acquired, saw the chief magistrate of a mighty 
nation so performing his duties, so administering 
his trust, so impartially acting for the public inter- 
ests and the public welfare, that he entered upon 
the second year of his term in the full possession 
of the confidence of his countrymen. 

The grateful task of review and portrayal of the 
history of his administration has been most worthi- 
ly assigned in these ceremonies to the learned, elo- 
quent and eminent lawyer who was the Attorney- 
General in his Cabinet. 



17 



FEATUKES OF HIS ADMINISTRATION. 

President Arthur will be distinguished both for 
what he did and what he refrained from doing. 
The strain and intensity of public feeling, the ve- 
hemence of the angry and vindictive passions of 
the time, demanded the rarest of negative as well as 
positive qualities. The calm and even course 
of government allayed excitement and appealed 
to the better judgment of the people. But 
though not aggressive or brilliant, his administra- 
tion was sensible and strong and admirably ad- 
justed to the conditions which created and at- 
tended it. He spoke vigorously for the reform and 
improvement of the civil service, and when Con- 
gress, acting upon his suggestions, enacted the 
law, he constructed the machinery for its execu- 
tions which has since accomplished most satisfac- 
tory, though as yet incomj3lete results. On ques- 
tions of currency and finance he met the netds of 
public and private credit, and the best commercial 
sentiment of the country. He knew the necessity 
for efficient coast defences and a navy equal to the 
requirements of the age. He keenly felt the 
weakness of our merchant marine and the total 
destruction of the proud position we had formerly 
held among the maritime nations of the world, and 



18 

did what he could to move Congress to wise and 
patriotic legislation. When the measures of his 
period are crowded into oblivion by the rapid and 
ceaseless tread of the events of each hour, in our 
phenomenal development and its needs, two acts 
of dramatic picturesqueness and historical signifi- 
cance will furnish themes for the orator and illus- 
trations for the academic stage of the future. 

The centennial of the final surrender at York- 
town which marked the end of the revolutionary 
war and the close of English rule was celebrated 
with fitting splendor and appropriateness. The 
presence of the descendants of Lafayette and 
Steuben as the guests of the nation, typified the 
undying gratitude of the Republic for the services 
rendered by the great French Patriot and his 
countrymen, and by the famous German soldier. 
But the President, with characteristic grace and 
tact, determined that the ceremonies should also 
officially record that all feelings of hostility against 
the mother country were dead. He directed that 
the celebration should be closed by a salute 
fired in honor of the British flag, as he felicitously 
said, "in recognition of the friendly relations 
so long and so happily subsisting between 
Great Britain and the United States, in the trust 
and confidence of peace and good will between the 



19 



two countries for all the centuries to come," and 
then he added the sentence which might be Amer- 
ica's message of congratulation at the Queen's 
Jubilee this summer, "and especially as a mark of 
the profound respect entertained by the American 
people for the illustrious sovereign and gracious 
lady who sits upon the British throne." 

General Grant was dying of a lingering and most 
painful disease. Manifold and extraordinary mis- 
fortunes had befallen him and his last days were 
clouded with great mental distress and doubt. 
The old soldier was most anxious to know that his 
countrymen freed him and would hold his memory 
sacred from all blame in connection with the men 
and troubles with which he had become so strangely, 
innocently and most inextricably involved. 
Whether his life should suddenly go out in the 
darkness, or be spared for an indefinite period was 
largely dependent upon some act which would con- 
vey to him the conlidence and admiration of the 
people. Again were illustrated both General 
Arthur's strong friendship and his always quick 
and correct appreciation of the expression of pop- 
ular sentiment. By timely suggestions to Con- 
gress, speedily acted upon, he happily closed the 
administration by affixing as its last official act his 
sis-nature to the nomination, which was confirmed 



20 

with tumultuous cheers, creating Ulysses S. Grant 
General of the Army. The news flashed to the 
hero, with affectionate message, rescued him from 
the grave, to enjoy for months the blissful assur- 
ance that comrades and countrymen had taken his 
character and career into their tender and watchful 
keeping. 



PEKSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 

There has rarely been in the history of popular 
governments so great a contrast as in the public 
appreciation of General Arthur at the time of his 
inauguration and when he retired from office. The 
President of whom little was expected and 
much feared returned to private life enjoy- 
ing in a larger degree than most of his 
predecessors the profound respect and warm re- 
gard of the people, without distinction of party. 
He was a warm-hearted, social, pleasure-loving 
man, but capable of the greatest industry, endur- 
ance and courage. He dearly loved to gratify his 
friends, but if he thought the public interests so 
required no one could more firmly resist their de- 
sires or their importunities. By his dignity and 
urbanity, and his rich possession of the graces 
which attract and adorn in social intercourse, he 



21 

gave a new charm to the hospitalities of the White 
House. Though the son of a country clergyman 
and unfamiliar with Courts, in him the veteran 
courtiers of the old world found all the culture, 
the proper observance of ceremonial proprieties and 
the indications of power which surround Emperors 
and Kings of ancient lineage and hereditary posi- 
tions, but tempered by a most attractive republican 
simplicity. He said to me early in his administra- 
tion, " My sole ambition is to enjoy the confidence 
of my countrymen." Towards this noble ideal he 
strove with undeviating purpose. Even in the mis- 
takes he made could be seen his manly struggle to 
be right. Once again in private station and resum- 
ing the practice of his profession, he moved among 
his fellow citizens receiving the homage and recog- 
nition which came of their pride in the way he had 
born the honors and administered the duties of 
the Chief Magistracy of the Republic. 

In his last illness he had the sympathy and pray- 
ers of the nation, and the grand gathering of the 
men most distinguished in every department of our 
public and private life, who sorrowfully bore him 
to the grave, was the solemn tribute of the whole 
people through their representatives to his worth 
as a man and his eminence as a public servant. 



ADDRESS 



Hon. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, 



s 

Memorial Service by the Legislature of the 
State of New York, 



Capitol at Albany, April 2jt/l f 188"/, 



©OVERJMOR REUBEN E. fENTON. 



Gentlemen of the Senate and Assembly of 
the State of New York : 

New York lias as a rule been remarkably for- 
tunate in her Governors. Many of them have been 
statesmen of national and commanding influence. 
Two of them have served as Presidents and two as 
Vice-Presidents of the United States, and two oth- 
ers were the choice of their party for the Chief 
Magistracy of the Republic. Their influence upon 
the policy and course of government has been po- 
tential. It is proper in this place to speak only of 
those who have joined the majority beyond the 
grave. There is no more heroic iigure in revolu- 
tionary annals than our first Governor, George 
Clinton. Within an hour after his inauguration 
he was marching to the post of duty and 
danger in front of the enemy. His obstinate cour- 
age, wise generalship and great popularity, did 
much to keep New York, full as the colony was of 
royalists, loyal to liberty and the Contin- 
ental Congress. • John Jay did more than any 
one save Alexander Hamilton to bind the discor- 
dant colonies into a harmonious confederacy. De- 
Witt Clinton by his foresight and energy made 



2(5 

New York the Empire State and her chief city, 
the commercial metropolis of the continent. 

Martin Van Buren for nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury was the actual ruler of the Republic, through 
his control and management of the dominant par- 
ty, and he gave political form and substance to the 
anti-slavery sentiment. William L. Marcy, United 
States Senator and twice a Cabinet Minister, has left 
an indelible impress upon the history of his time. 
Silas Wright ranks among our ideal statesmen. He 
possessed the loftiest character and most signal abil- 
ity. His ambitions were always subordinated to the 
public welfare. He could calmly layaside the certain- 
ty of the Presidency when his duty as he understood 
it, called him to serve in more hazardous but 
minor fields, and he was in every sense a modern 
Cincinnatus. The name of William H. Seward will 
be among the few of his generation which will sur- 
vive in coming ages. He was the political philoso- 
pher of his period who alone of his contemporaries 
grasped the full meaning and inevitable result of 
the vast moral questions which agitated the coun- 
try. His matchless genius for affairs and unruffled 
judgment in the midst of trial and danger kept 
that peace with the world without, which alone en- 
abled nationality to win its victory within. His 
speeches and state papers will be the exhaustless 



27 

treasury from which the statesmen of the future 
will draw their best lessons and inspiration. With- 
in our immediate memory the tablets upon our 
gubernatorial mausoleum recall the public services 
of John A. King, John A. Dix, Edwin D. Morgan, 
Horatio Seymour, Reuben E. Fenton and Samuel 
J. Tilden. No other State has been governed by an 
equal number of men of national influence and 
fame. It is therefore eminently proper and wise 
that the Legislature should commemorate and by 
imposing ceremonial perpetuate the history and 
characters of its departed Chief Magistrates. 

EARLY TRIALS AND SUCCESSES. 

The one in whose honor we are here assembled 
worthily ranks with the best of his predecessors in 
office. Repeated and long continued promotions 
to places of trust by popular suffrage are cumula- 
tive evidence of merit and distinction. The oppor- 
tunity to rise from humble station to lofty posi- 
tions is the common heritage of all, but they only 
successfully climb the slippery and perilous ascent 
gathering fresh strength at each station for bolder 
efforts, who are easily the leaders of their fellows. 
The early settlers of Western New York were a 
hardy and enterprising race, and their children 



28 

roughing it in log cabins, forest clearings and 
frontier experiences, were by heredity and educa- 
tion State builders. They created farms out of the 
wilderness, formed communities and organized 
government. It is easier for a man of ability to 
get on in a new country and with fresh surround- 
ings, than in the neighborhood where he was born. 
Where everyone has known him from childhood 
he often is handicapped by the unforgotten frivoli- 
ties of youth, and reaches middle life before he 
has outgrown the feeling that he is still a boy, 
while as a new settler, he starts at once at the 
level of his ascertained capabilities. It is the 
peculiar distinction of Mr. Fenton that he over- 
came these prejudices before he was of age, that he 
became the choice of his fellow citizens for posi- 
tions of trust as soon as he obtained his majority, 
and passing his life at his birthplace, he earned at 
a period when most young men are unknown, the 
confidence of the people among whom he had 
grown up, and carried it with him to his grave. 
He saw Western New York expand from the for- 
est into one of the most beautiful, highly cultivat- 
ed and richest sections of the State, teeming with 
an intelligent and prosperous population, which 
had founded cities, formed villages, erected schools, 
endowed colleges and planted by every stream 



29 

flourishing manufactories, and he remained 
throughout all this growth and until his death the 
foremost and most distinguished citizen. He was 
seven times Supervisor of his town, and three times 
Chairman of the County Board, for five terms a 
member of Congress, twice Governor of this great 
State, United States Senator, and the choice of 
New York for Vice-President in the convention 
which first nominated General Grant. 

This proud career was not helped by accident, or 
luck, or wealth, or family, or powerful friends. 
He was in its best sense both the architect 
and builder of his own fortunes. When a 
lad of seventeen his father failed in business, 
and the boy dropped his studies and profes- 
sional aspirations to support the family and re- 
trieve its credit. Self reliant but prudent, courag- 
eous but cautious, his audacity subject to reason, 
he quickly measured his powers and then boldly 
struck out for himself, lie traversed the virgin 
forests, selecting with unerring judgment the most 
productive tracts, and for years following, his life 
was spent in logging camps and piloting his rafts 
down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers. The adven- 
tures, exposure and perils of the work gave him 
an iron constitution and knowledge of men, and 
developed his rare capacity for business. An 



30 

omniverons and intelligent reader, he became, by 
the light of blazing fires in the forest and pine 
knots in the cabin on the rafts, well educated and 
widely informed. At thirty-one he had x^aid his 
fathers debts and secured a comfortable competence 
for himself. Then came the inevitable internal 
struggle with himself of the man who has early in 
life achieved an independence. He feels his 
strength, the ardor and fire of vigorous manhood 
enlarge his vision, and he sees no limits to his 
ambitions. The divergent roads to untold wealth 
on the one side, or honors and fame on the other, 
are before him, and to lead the crowd, his best 
energies will be required for whichever path he 
selects. Mr. Fenton determined to devote his future 
to the public service and henceforward his life be- 
came identified with the history of his times. 



A LEADER OF THE NEW PARTY. 

He had always been a Democrat, but the great 
question which was to destroy the Whig and divide 
the Democratic Party, met him at the outset of his 
congressional career. Stephen A. Douglas had 
introduced into the bill organizing the Territories 
of Kansas and Nebraska, a section repealing that 
portion of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, 



31 

which forever prohibited slavery in the new ter- 
ritories lying north of latitude thirty-six degrees 
and thirty minutes. In a moment the whole 
country was aflame. The slumbering conscience 
of the nation awoke with an energy which 
rocked pulpits, and revolutionized colleges. 
The oration, the tract and the madly exciting 
novel were potent forces in the storm. The young 
congressman must choose and at once between his 
convictions and the caucus. He did not hesitate. 
He was never afraid oi* his beliefs, and faith and 
courage with him always stood together. His 
maiden speech was for the inviolable preservation 
of the boundaries so solemnly set by a former gen- 
eration to the encroachments of slavery. It was 
the first speech made from either side in the House 
of Representatives against the pending crime, it 
was made by a member of the Party then dominant 
in the government, and its clear notes of independ- 
ence and defiance rallied about him a determined 
band of young democratic representatives. From 
that day he was one. of the leaders in the formation 
and afterwards in the conduct of the Republican 
Party. When Mr. Seward announced the death of 
the Whig and christened the young Party — Re- 
publican, and when at its first State Convention 
there fraternized under that name, old Whigs and 



32 

Democrats, Barnburners of '48, Free Soilers and 
Liberty Party men of the days of Martyrdom, 
Reuben E. Fenton was unanimously elected as their 
presiding officer. 

It is difficult now to realize the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of a Member of Congress during the 
civil war. He was investigating estimates and mak- 
ing appropriations of such appalling magnitude, 
that he had no precedents to guide him and no 
standards for comparison. Amidst the tension and 
strain of great battles, of victories and defeats, of 
the result oft times in doubt and the Capitol itself 
frequently in peril, he was uprooting by legislation, 
wrongs and abuses which had been embedded in the 
constitutions, the laws, the decisions of the Courts, 
as well as the approving judgment of the people 
since the formation of the government, and prepar- 
ing for the reconstruction of a new upon the ruins 
of the old Republic. Fundamental principles of 
human rights were pressing for immediate and fin- 
al settlement, while the carnage, slaughter and 
suffering without and the financial and administra- 
tive perils within the Capitol were unparalleled in 
the experience of nations. But widely known and 
with a sympathetic heart he was counselor, friend 
and brother, for the mother searching for her dead, 
for wives looking for loved ones left wounded upon 



33 

the field, for parents seeking furloughs for their 
boys in the hospital, that they might carry them 
home and tenderly nurse them back to life and 
health, and by the soldiers bedside he gave relief, 
encouragement and strength, or received the dying 
message and the last embrace to be tenderly borne 
to mourning and broken households in the peaceful 
valleys of the distant North. There were many 
men in Congress of commanding eloquence and 
great power in debate, who received general atten- 
tion and applause, but Mr. Fenton did not excel in 
either of these more attractive fields. He was a 
man of affairs, one of those clear headed, construc- 
tive and able business managers, whose persistent 
industry, comprehensive grasp of details and power 
to marshall them for practical results, made him 
invaluable in committee where legislation is per- 
fected and all important measures are prepared. 
The people rarely know the debt they owe to the 
careful, plodding, alert members, who ceaselessly 
working in committee rooms, with no reporters to 
herald their achievements and no place in the "Con- 
gressional Record for their work, detect frauds and 
strangle jobs, mould crudities into laws and develop 
the hidden meaning and deep laid schemes of skill- 
ful and deceptive amendments, ascertain the needs 
of government and devise the statutes for meeting 



34 

them. They are the reliance of the Cabinet Minis- 
ter and the safety of parliamentary government. 
There are always three classes of Congressmen, the 
leaders who organize the forces of the administra- 
tion or opposition, and by speeches profound or 
magnetic give opinions to their party and 
educate the country to its views, the 
able and conscientious committeeman and 
watchful member, and the drones whose public use- 
fulness is lost between yawns and naps. Mr. Fen- 
ton was an ideal representative of the second type, 
with some of the qualities of the first. He master- 
ed his subject so thoroughly, and understood so 
well the causes and effect of pending issues, that 
his calm and lucid statements made him, upon the 
floor, a strong ally and a dangerous enemy. His 
speeches uxwn pensions, internal improvements,the 
regulation of emigration, the payment of bounties, 
the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the 
financial measures for carrying on the war, and 
funding the national debt, attest the extent of his 
acquirements and the wisdom of his views. 

But his distinction during this period was, that 
he came to be pre-eminently recognized as the 
" Soldiers Friend." 

The bill to facilitate the granting of furloughs 
and discharges to disabled soldiers ; the bill to 



35 

facilitate the payment of bounties and arrears of 
pay due wounded and deceased soldiers ; and 
bills granting pensions and those making the ap- 
plication for them easy and inexpensive, were 
among the results of his patriotic and thoughtful 
interest. He kept lonely vigils by the hospital 
cots at night, and by day was ceaselessly and tire- 
lessly tramping from the War and Navy Depart- 
ments to the Executive Mansion. 

The New York Soldiers Aid Society in recogni- 
tion of his eminent fitness and meritorious services 
elected him its president, and the beneficent work 
of that society is recorded in grateful hearts and 
registered by happy firesides all over our state. 
When as governor, he welcomed home the return- 
ing regiments of the disbanded army, the formal 
words of his official proclamation spoke the senti- 
ments which had guided his actions. " Soldiers," 
said he " your State thanks you and gives you 
pledge of her lasting gratitude. You have elevated 
her dignity, brightened her renown and enriched her 
history. The people will regard with jealous pride, 
your welfare and honor, not forgetting the widow, 
the fatherless and those who were dependent upon 
the fallen hero." 



36 



GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. 



The Presidential canvass of 1864 was one of the 
most interesting in our history. The radical ele- 
ment in the Republian party had nominated a 
ticket after denouncing President Lincoln because 
he was too slow and conservative. Governor Horatio 
Seymour, while voicing the thought of the Demo- 
cratic National Convention, in one of the most able 
and masterly of speeches, as its Chairman, had de- 
clared that Mr. Lincoln's administration had been a 
series of costly and bloody mistakes, and under his 
guidance the war had been, and would continue to 
be, a failure. To carry New York, Mr. Seymour 
accepted a renomination for Governor, and entered 
upon the canvass with his accustomed vigor and 
eloquence. Whether we differ from, or sustain his 
political opinions, we must all admit that Horatio 
Seymour was one of the most brilliant and at- 
tractive of our New York statesmen. The purity 
of his life, his unblemished character, his com- 
manding presence, and his magnetism upon the 
platform, made him the idol of his party and the 
most dangerous of opponents. It was vital to Mr, 
Lincoln and his administration, and to Mr. Seward, 
the Chief of his Cabinet, that New York should 
.sustain them, and repel these charges. To meet 



37 

this emergency, and conduct this campaign, Reu- 
ben E. Fenton was nominated by the Republican 
Convention for Governor. The wisdom of the 
choice was speedily apparent. Mr. Fenton' s un- 
equalled abilities as an organizer were felt in every 
school district in the Commonwealth, and when 
the returns showed the state carried for Lincoln, 
and Fenton leading by some thousands the Presi- 
dential vote, the new Governor became a 
figure of national importance. Within four days 
after his inauguration he raised the last quota of 
troops called for from New York with this stirring 
appeal : " Having resolutely determined to go thus 
far in the struggle, we shall not falter nor hesitate 
when the rebellion reels under our heavy blows, when 
victory upon all the methods of human calculation 
is so near. Believing ourselves to be inspired by 
the same lofty sentiments of patriotism which ani- 
mated our fathers in founding our free institutions, 
let us continue to imitate their bright example of 
courage, endurance and faithfulness to principle 
in maintaining them. Let us be faithful and per- 
severe. Let there be a rally of the j^eople in every 
city, village and town." 

A few months afterwards the happy lot and 
unique distinction came to him, following the sur- 
render at Appomattox, of being among the immor- 



38 

tals, who will always live as the War Governors of 
•our civil strife, who in Thanksgiving Proclama- 
tions returned to Almighty God, the devout ac- 
knowledgments of a grateful people for the end of 
war and bloodshed, and the victory of unity and 
nationality. That he carried the State for his par- 
ty at each recurring annual election during his two 
terms as Governor proves the popularity of his 
administration and his skill as an organizer. By 
temperament and training he was admirably fitted 
for executive position. No one ever understood 
better the peculiarities and surroundings of men. 
He was apparently the most amiable and con- 
ciliatory of public officers, but never yielded an 
essential point. He possessed in an eminent de- 
gree the rare faculty of satisfying applicants and 
petitioners without gratifying them. The immense 
state and local indebtedness following the war, the 
wild speculations incident to an unstable currency, 
and the perilous condition of public and private 
credit he thoroughly understood, and with great 
sagacity and judgment devoted his powers to re- 
moving the dangers and preparing for the storm. 
He gave the state what it most needed after the 
drain and demoralization of the civil war, a wise 
business government. So profoundly impressed 
was the convention which met at Syracuse in 1868 



39 

to send delegates to the National Convention at 
Chicago, with the strength of his administration 
that it unanimously and enthusiastically instructed 
the delegates to present his name for Vice-Presi- 
dent, and for five ballots in that memorable con- 
test he was second on the poll. 



SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Senator Morgan realized when it was too late to 
either gracefully retire or to avert defeat, that the 
power which Thurlow Weed had held for thirty 
years, and upon which he relied, had passed away and 
the Governor had become the master of the party 
forces in the State. Governor Fenton became 
easily the choice of the Legislature as Mr. Morgan's 
successor, and entered the Senate at a period when 
measures were pending which he thoroughly under- 
stood, and in their solution could render most valu- 
able and enduring service. The bent of his mind 
was towards financial and business subjects, and the 
debt, taxation, the currency, banking and revenue 
were the pressing problems of the hour. No meas- 
ures since the adoption of the constitution have 
had such permanent and beneficial influence upon 
the growth and prosperity of the country, as the 
acts relating to finance from 1869 to 1875. The 



40 

national credit was impaired, the interest upon the 
debt was exorbitant and threatened the gravest 
complications, and Jiat money induced the wildest 
speculation followed by its natural sequence, gen- 
eral bankruptcy and business suspension. With 
rare courage and wisdom Congress declared that all 
the obligations of the Government should be paid in 
gold. Instantly the shattered credit of the Republic 
was restored and its securities advanced in all the 
markets of the world. Taking advantage of this 
good name and reputation bills were passed fund- 
ing the debt, at a rate of interest so much reduced 
that a burden of over fifty millions of dollars a year 
was lifted from the taxpayers. Commerce, manu- 
factures and all industries soon responded to this 
great relief, and the stability and healthy expan- 
sion of the vast business of the country were as- 
sured. But steady and reputable occupations, 
and the inauguration and completion of the 
enterprises which were in the years to come to de- 
velop in such a rapid and limitless way our ex- 
liaustless resources, were impossible with a fluctuat- 
ing and uncertain currency. The full fruition of 
this grandest scheme of finance of modern times 
came with the resumption of specie payments. 
That the losses and destruction of the civil war 
have been regained, repaired and forgotten ; that 



41 

the Republic is many fold richer in every element 
of wealth, prosperity and promises for the future 
due to the wise foresight which prepared and per 
fected this harmonious and interdependent system. 
While Senator Fenton did his full share and 
occupied an honorable place in this grand and 
statesmanlike work, he originated and promoted 
with all his ability, thoroughness and persistence 
the abolition of the moiety methods of collecting 
the revenue. The evils had long been apparent, 
but no one had the boldness to attack them. They 
originated when the young Republic was too poor 
to pay adequate salaries, and continued until the 
enormous receipts at the customs gave to the reve- 
nue officers a fortune each year and retired them 
with large wealth. They were intrenched in the 
cupidity of incumbents and the hopeful dreams of 
aspirants. Those in possession and those who 
expected to be in the ever varying tides of political 
fortunes were alike hostile to a change. The sys- 
tem was fecund in spies, informers and perjurers, 
and merchants were at the mercy of legalized 
blackmail. The final triumph of this benelicent 
reform will be remembered to his lasting honor. 



42 



FENTON AND GREELEY. 



No record of Governor Fenton's life would be 
complete which failed to give the facts of his separ- 
ating from his Party for one campaign, and no 
memorial honest which ignored its discussion. He 
supported the Republican Candidates with all his 
might from the formation of the party till his 
death, with the single exception of his vote 
lor Mr. Greeley. Before this event bringing into 
the canvass all the forces of the organization then 
under his control, and after it, returning again 
within the regular lines, and giving his whole time 
and influence for the success in each succeeding 
canvass of Hayes, of Garfield and of Blaine. No 
organization was either large enough or elastic 
enough to hold in harmonious relations and views 
two such opposite, original and positive men as 
General Grant and Horace Greeley. All condi- 
tions in the beginning conspired to urge Greeley to 
independent action, as in the latter part of his can- 
vass they united for his defeat. The rise of his 
tidal wave until a vast majority of the voters were 
apparently drawn into the current, and then its 
sudden collapse, followed immediately by his sleep- 
less watching for weeks by the bedside of his dying 
wife, brain fever, delirium and death, form one of 



43 

the most dramatic episodes and romantic tragedies 
in American politics. Mr. Greeley delighted in po- 
lemical controversy, but he hated war. For more 
than a quarter of a century this strong thinker and 
master of the most vigorous English had furnished 
opinions to and done the thinking for vast masses 
of his fellow citizens. In the anti-slavery move- 
ment, in the struggle for temperance legislation, in 
all moral reforms he was the most potent factor of 
his generation. Shocked and outraged beyond re- 
straint when the first shot was tired at the flag, he 
demanded that the rebel soil be plowed with can- 
non balls and sown with salt, and his clarion notes 
rang through the land like a trumpet blast calling 
all loyal men to arms. But when he thought he 
saw a prospect of peace with slavery abolished, he 
recoiled appalled from further bloodshed and cried 
halt. 

Unlike most strong natures he harbored no re- 
sentments and was incapable of revenge. When 
the rebellion was crushed he went upon the bail 
bond of Jefferson Davis as a protest against death 
penalties and confiscations, and in the hope 
of amnesty, reconciliation and brotherly re- 
union upon the basis won by our vic- 
tory in the war. He so impressed and 
imbued Abraham Lincoln with his views that 



44 

only the assassination of the President prevented 
their public announcement. He had been a de- 
voted follower and passionate lover of Henry Clay, 
and three times had seen him set aside for the 
availability of military popularity. While most 
cordially conceding to General Grant position as 
the foremost Captain of his time, Mr. Greeley mis- 
trusted his administrative ability in civil affairs, 
feared the result of his inexperience and intensely 
disliked his advisers. To President Grant, on the 
other hand, the great editor seemed something more 
and little less than an inspired crank. After the 
unfortunate results of some of the temporary and 
tentative State administrations in the South, Mr. 
Greeley conceived the idea that if the late rebels 
and slaveholders could be induced, in return for 
the full restoration of their State governments and 
universal amnesty, to accept the amendments 
to the Constitution, the freedom and citizen- 
ship of the slave, the inviolability of the debt 
and all the results of the war, with hearty 
loyalty to the flag waving over a Repub- 
lic reconstructed on these conditions; and as 
hostage for their faith would take as their candi- 
date for President a lifelong abolitionist and Re- 
publican, the problem of reconstruction and peace 
would be solved at once. Responding to this idea 



45 

the world beheld the amazing spectacle of these 
people in convention assembled, solemnly declaring 
that the obligations of the Republic to the abolition 
of slavery, to the civil and political rights of the 
freedmen, to the honest payment of the national 
debt, to the repudiation of rebel loans, and to pen- 
sions to Union soldiers, were unalterable and sacred, 
and then nominating for President one who had 
said more harsh and bitter things, and through his 
writings and speeches done more effective work for 
the overthrow of all their principles and traditions, 
than any man living or dead. That the 
South, without giving the evidences of re- 
pentance then promised, has been granted 
and now enjoys even more than Mr. Greeley 
proposed, is the answer of the succeeding political 
generation to the fierce assaults made at the time 
upon his theory and anticipations. That a large 
majority of his party associates were converted to 
his hopeful view at first, and many followed him 
to the end, was natural, when the movement was 
inspired and led by so masterful and commanding 
an intellect which had braved defeat and death for 
the rights of men, and been always the first of the 
forlorn hope of liberty and reform, in the assault 
upon the almost impregnable positions of wrong, 
immorality and oppression for over a quarter of a 



46 

century. That he was defeated and General Grant 
elected, the backward view over the events since 
1872, which is not difficult for most men to 
safely and correctly take, proves to have been a 
wise and fortunate result. He was killed by his 
defeat. I stood near as the clouds began to gather 
in that active and mighty brain. He thought that 
a life unselfishly given to mankind would be judged 
a failure by posterity, and that the fame which he 
had hoped would rest uj3on the praise and the 
gratitude of the humble and oppressed, was already 
permanently injured by the prejudices and distrust 
aroused in them by the calumnies of the canvass. 
Though his controversies filled the land, this great 
fighter for the truth as he understood it, was the 
most morbidly sensitive of mortals, and weakened 
by the sleepless strain of the struggle and domes- 
tic affliction, his reason and life succumbed to ridi- 
cule and misrepresentation. We have seen death 
in many forms, and for most of us it has lost its 
terrors, but to witness a great mind suddenly break 
and go out in helpless and hopeless darkness was 
the saddest scene I ever saw, and its memory is as 
of the most painful of tragedies. 

Horace Greeley was the last of that famous trium- 
virate of Editors, Greeley, Bennett and Raymond, 
whose genius and individuality subordinated the 



47 

functions of a great newspaper to the'presentation of 
their opinions and characteristics. Their journals 
were personal organs, but of phenomenal influence. 
The vigor of Mr. Greeley's thought and the lu- 
cidity of its expression, carried conviction to 
the minds of hundreds of thousands of people, and 
he was for nearly a quarter of a century the great- 
est individual force in the country. He was so 
honest and terrifically in earnest, so right in his 
motives and pure in his principles, that like the 
spots upon the sun, his mistakes made more evi- 
dent the loftiness of his purposes. His motives 
were so transparent that his errors and eccentrici- 
ties increased his strength, and even when wrong, 
he inspired more confidence than is reposed in 
most men when they are right. He made and un- 
made more reputations than any writer in the 
land. His untimely death hushed all hearts. 
President and Cabinet, Generals and soldiers, Gov- 
ernors and Congressmen, friends and foes, the 
mighty and the humble, gathered at his bier, and 
the nation mourned as never before for the loss of 
a citizen in private station. 

Mr. Fenton had acted with Mr. Greeley since the 
formation of the Republican Party. They had 
been the closest of personal and political friends. 
They consulted freely and often on all questions 



48 

and continued in fullest accord on party measures 
and policies. 

After the dissolution of the famous partnership 
of Seward, Weed and Greeley, Fenton cast his for- 
tunes with the junior member of the firm. His 
faith in Greeley and constant contact with his aspi- 
rations and views led to his full agreement with 
the opinions, and his fidelity, to giving a cordial 
support to the ambitions of his friend. 



PRIVATE LIFE AND CHARACTER. 

After retiring from the Senate, Governor Fenton 
continued active, and deeply interested in the suc- 
cess of his party, but was never again a candidate 
for office. President Hayes sent him abroad in 
1878 as Chairman of the Commission to the Inter- 
national Monetary Convention to fix the ratio of 
value between gold and silver, and provide for 
their common use. But his health had become 
impaired by the strain of a busy and stormy 
life, and continued precarious until his sudden 
death while sitting at his office desk. The Gov- 
ernor and State Officers, and a great multitude of 
people representing the affection and respect of a 
large constituency, gave additional significance 
and solemnity to the last tributes to his memory. 



49 

Reuben E. Fenton was remarkable for the full, 
rounded character of his mind and disposition. No 
matter how iiercely the storm raged about him he 
was always serene and unmoved. Though it was 
his fortunes which were at stake, he was the calmest 
of the combatants. He was the most affable and 
approachable of men and yet until he acted none 
knew either his plans or his views. He listened 
courteously to everyone, but what he heard rarely 
changed his deliberate judgment. In the heat of 
the contest, when upon his decision or signature 
depended results of the greatest importance to 
powerful and persistent applicants, his manner of 
receiving them, led to angry charges that he had 
conveyed false impressions or been guilty of bad 
faith, but no proof was ever submitted, and it came 
to be admitted that he was simply under the most 
tantalizing and exasperating conditions always a 
gentleman. He was faultless in dress and manners, 
whether in the executive chamber, upon the plat- 
form or in the crowd, but this scrupulous exact- 
ness seemed to enhance his popularity. He loved 
to mingle freely with the people but he received 
the like kindly greeting and cordial confidence 
from workingmen fresh from the forge, or mer- 
chants in their parlors or counting-rooms. When 
the history of our State comes to v 



50 

written, Mr. Fenton will be given rank as its best 
political organizer after Martin Van Buren. But he 
possessed a magnetism which Van Buren never had. 
A most tender, gentle and affectionate nature shone 
brightly for his friends through the crust of the 
mannerisms of office and policy. I have met all 
the public men of my time under circumstances 
sufficiently close to form some judgment 
as to the secrets of their power, and 
he was one of the very few who had an eloquent 
presence. His touch and look conveyed, if he 
pleased, such a world of interest and regard, that 
the recipient without knowing why felt honored by 
his confidence and encircled by his friendship. It 
was this which made it impossible to crush him 
after repeated defeats. When he was under the 
ban of power, when to act with him was to accept 
ostracism, when the office-holder was sure to lose 
his place and the ambitious found all avenues 
barred if they followed his lead, he came year after 
year to the annual convention of his party with 
such a solid, numerous and aggressive host that it 
required all the resources of unsurpassed eloquence, 
political sagacity and the lavish prizes of patronage 
to prevent his carrying off the victory. The char- 
acter and deeds which redound to his honor and will 
perpetuate his memory, are sources of just pride for 



51 

his State and of lasting pleasure to his friends. 
He was a representative of the people when the most 
vital questions affecting the welfare of the human 
race on this continent were at issue and the Republic 
in the agonies of dissolution, and acted well 
the part of philanthropist, patriot and statesman. 
He was twice Governor of this State at a most criti- 
cal period in its history, wielding the powers of the 
Executive with wisdom and courage, and as the 
leader of the dominant party in the commonwealth, 
exercising a potent, but broad and healthful influ- 
ence in the affairs of the nation. He was United 
States Senator during the fruitful period of the re- 
construction of the government, and left enduring 
monuments of his fidelity and ability as one of the 
architects of the new era. As Congressman, Gov- 
ernor, Senator, there is no stain upon his record, 
and his public life stands pure and unassailed. 

The controversies which occupied so large apart of 
his life are over. The causes which produced them 
have ceased to exist, and the friends and foes of 
that period can fight over the old battles 
without rancor or passion. The ever dis- 
solving and reuniting fragments of political forces 
wear off by friction enmities and jealousies, and by 
the recognition of merits before unknown in our 
opponents, we are all brought into more harmoni- 



52 



ous and respecting relations. We can all stand 

beside the grave of Reuben E. Fenton, and forget- 
ting for the moment our divisions and contentions, 
mourn the loss of one who in his day and genera- 
tion acted so well his part as private citizen 
and public officer, that the common- 
wealth and the country were enriched by 
his example, his character and his work. 



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